The Root of All Evil

Hello again.

So, just what is the root of all evil?

Could it be greed? Over-weaning ambition? Vegans? People who drink tea with their little finger pointed outwards?

I am taking a punt on model buildings with windows.

You buy a kit in all innocence, thinking you are doing the right thing. You build the kit and, as you are doing so, that moment of clarity arrives. You had not noticed the window at the back. That window looks straight into a one room dwelling. That window is an eye on the world for the dwelling's inhabitants. That window is an eye into the dwelling for the world's inhabitants.

There is no glazing. Do you bother to find some? Of course you do. Think of the draught, the ingress of rain and other environmental factors, the lack of security having a big hole in the back wall of your property.

So you glaze it with a bit of clear, plastic sheet cut from a blister pack. That in itself makes painting the exterior all the harder, as you now have to mask the window if you spray undercoat or be VERY careful if you choose to brush paint, and painting is an absolute necessity.

But will it just be an empty space? Will people get low to the table and look into a blank canvas with grey card and golden brown mdf the sole delights for their eye? Dilemma...

Should you furnish the dwelling? Will it be visible when you have done and fix the top of the roof down? Should you fix the top of the roof down or have it lift off to allow for the internal placement of figures? Should you at least paint the interior, even if you cannot access it?

You furnish. You cannot take the risk. You also therefore paint the interior. You also have to do it a little justice, not quite knowing how much detail to go into. You just know that if you do not make the effort, some smart Alec will ruin your day by pointing out your little abode is vacant possession. You spend most of a day when you could be enjoying life trying to come up with suitable ways to build beds, chairs, tables, utensils, just general signs of life in your dwelling, even if it is unoccupied at the moment. Someone was there and you needed to show that.

Like I said, model buildings are my vote for the root of all evil...

In truth, the kit itself was easy to build, being one of the Sarissa Precision offerings specifically for the "Burrows & Badgers" game. Built with the useable instructions provided and a reasonably liberal use of wood glue and specialist card glue, although ordinary PVA would suffice, the only real difficulty came with the aforementioned window straight from the bowels of some burning, undesirable other level of human existence, whose name cannot be voiced in polite blogospheric circles, rather like saying "Voldemort" for many of the inhabitants of Harry Potter's world.

But it is at least now built and detailed internally with a certain amount of ingenuity.

And, do you know what?

You can hardly see a darn thing with the roof on!!!

Will I go to these lengths on future builds? I think I will just pull the curtains! (And I have not even given this place any!!!)

G

That window, now glazed.

And all the internals I could be bothered with, using coloured paper, calico, card, plastic sheet, bits of scrap wood, the odd item from my bits box, etc, along with putty for the leather cushion on the chair (very shiny leather!) and the pillow on the bed.

I even dirtied the door mat and had some careless individual (have you met my kids?) tramp mud up onto the rug in front of the fireplace. Judging by the state of the bed, I think this is student accommodation.

And to add to the pain, the roof fits very snugly and securely without needing to be fixed down. Hm. Perhaps the effort was worthwhile after all...